Wildfires continue to cause uncertainty for Spanish and French residents as more than 300,000 people have had to leave their homes.

The French interior minister said the Gironde wildfire has “a life of its own” and that firefighters are facing an “unprecedented situation”, while people in Bordeaux are growing “anxious and fearful”, one resident said, with the blaze around nine miles (15 km) from the outskirts of the city.

Over the border, Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez visited Valencia where more wildfires have broken out and said that the country was suffering under the effects of climate change.

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What do affordable housing, arsonists, tourism, the Welsh language and council tax have in common?

The answer… second homes.

In some parts of Wales, second homes make up nearly a third of all properties. For local young people trying to buy their first home, that raises a big question – are second homes pricing them out of the communities they grew up in?

In this video, we explore the impact of second-home ownership on housing affordability, local culture and community life in Wales. We hear from residents, experts and policymakers to find out whether second homes are a problem, or whether there are other factors making it harder for young people to get on the housing ladder.

From economics and housing policy to tourism and the Welsh language, this is a story about far more than property.

In this video:

00:00 – 30% of houses are second homes in certain parts of Wales
00:47 – Rhodri’s perspective as a young local from Crymych
01:27 – Who is buying second homes in Wales?
01:58 – Gareth Lewis breaks down why second homes are so complicated
03:21 – The impact of second homes in local communities
03:54 – ‘The Right to Live at Home’ campaign
04:46 – Meet Wynfford – he’s been campaigning since the 70s
05:29 – The campaign against second homes turns violent
08:00 – Council tax & planning permission explained
09:00 – Scenario 1: the costs behind a private second home
09:41 – Scenario 2: the costs behind renting a second home
10:31 – Beverley’s view as a second home owner
11:27 – Gwynedd, the county with the MOST second homes in Wales
12:04 – Carol’s view as a local landlord
13:28 – Greg’s perspective as a young local from the Gower Peninsula
13:52 – … and it isn’t just Wales facing this issue
14:50 – What happens next? Gareth Lewis explains

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We speak to the BBC’s climate editor Justin Rowlatt about the wildfires raging across Europe, and ask him how to prevent these blazes from becoming the new normal.

More than 300,000 people in France and Spain have fled their homes as the fires continue. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said the climate emergency is to blame for the fires, and warned that “difficult hours lie ahead” as his country braces for another heatwave. One official said Spain is facing a “national wildfire crisis”.

French President Emmanuel Macron has held a crisis meeting in Paris to discuss the government’s response as wildfires burn near the city of Bordeaux. The flames there are so intense that they have created their own thunderstorms in the form of pyrocumulonimbus clouds.

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00:00 Introduction
00:18 How big are the wildfires?
01:05 Climate emergency
03:48 How to stop wildfires becoming an annual event
06:42 Political will to fight climate change
07:53 What you can do to counter the climate crisis

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Firefighters are tackling major wildfires in France and Spain, with one blaze around nine miles (15 km) from the south of Bordeaux.
 
Lightning storms have also been triggered by the heat from the fire in Bordeaux, adding to rising concerns situations could become worse with more high temperatures to hit the area again as early as Tuesday.
 
In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is visiting the areas affected by Castellón forest fires including Vall d’Uixó, a town near Valencia where as many as 6,500 hectares have been scorched.

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The US Justice Department is facing backlash from press freedom groups, after it was revealed the government secretly asked for the phone records of several journalists from the New York Times.

A newly unsealed legal filing shows that federal prosecutors targeted the communication logs of multiple investigative reporters, as well as members of their immediate families.

The move was reportedly apart of an aggressive attempt to hunt down anonymous sources behind high level national security leaks.

This comes after the DOJ sparked pushback earlier this month, when it issued subpoenas against Times journalists who reported on the new luxury Air Force One jet donated by Qatar.

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